New Divide
by TurtlesandMonkeys
Summary: Marrissa just wants to start over. Jake just wants to fulfill both his and his brother's wish. These two strangers meet, and both of their worlds are turned upside down.


**Jakes POV**

I was faced with a decision: Help the girl falling from the cliff whom I don't even know, or just walk away. What did you think I picked? I wouldn't live with myself if I left here falling and get herself hurt! So, I ran to her in order to catch her fall. But she was falling fast, and I wasn't running fast enough. I watched as she fell, screaming the whole way down, holding a Pokemon in her arms. I thought I was going to be too late! I picked up my speed, and jumped, arms out reached as I tried to save her...

~0~

Okay, lets rewind this a bit. Back to beginning.

I woke up early that morning in the Pokemon Center. I was currently in Pewter City after arriving here late last night. I turned over and placed the pillow over my head and groaned. I was hoping it would block the sun. I looked over at the clock. It was way early. 7:00 A.M. It was then I heard a knock at my door. I grunted and sat up, rubbing my eyes. "Who is it?" My voice sounded groggy.

"I'm sorry to bother you this early, but you have a phone call in the lobby." Nurse Joy's sweet voice responded outside my door. I always thought nurse Joy was rather cute. Don't make fun of me for it either. I'm sure there are a lot of guys who do. I just respect her a lot because she loves to help Pokemon. And she is cute so I can't help it.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy. I'll be out there in a little bit." I replied, throwing the covers off me. I stood up and walked over to my bag on the dresser. My hair was a mess, but I didn't care. I liked it like this. I rubbed my hands through it a few times until I was satisfied. I unzipped my bag and pulled out my orange shirt and jeans and put them on. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was missing one more thing. The necklace my brother gave me.

My older brother, Garrett, was a free-spirit person. I really looked up to him growing up. He initially inspired my to just follow my heart. Which is where I picked up my talent for art. I love drawing, but carving and sculptures are my specialty. I have a whole shelf full of wooden carvings of Pokemon.

I spotted the necklace next to my bag and picked it up. There was a Pokeball attached to it. I unclipped the Pokeball and pressed the button, making it bigger and watch it open. A white light came from it and brightened the room. It took shake and grew big. When the light vanished, there stood a Charmeleon. Charmeleon had it's arms crossed and it looked at me and nodded.

Now, this Charmeleon really isn't mine. My brother gave it to me after...Never mind, I don't want to talk about it right now. Lets just say it was passed on to me by my brother. I got it just last week, and we bonded a lot. We were close before, but now that were partners in this, we really bonded.

I walked out of my room and into the lobby. Nurse Joy was there and she smiled at me, so I smiled back. "Your phone call is right over there." she said and pointed to the pair of videophones.

"Thanks," I nodded and walked over to the phones with Charmeleon. I saw the call waiting screen and picked up the phone and pressed the button. On the screen there were a pair of pink eyes staring back at me, and they were furious. Her pink hair was in braids and she grabbed the phone and put it to her ear and started to yell at me.

"Jake! You get your but back here to Cerulean City right this instinct with that will!" She was so loud that I had to take the phone away from my ears. I could still here her, and so could the other trainers in the Pokemon Center. Some of them sent my glares for being loud. I mouthed 'Sorry' and pointed to the phone. When she was done with her yelling, I put the phone back to my ear and started to speak to her.

"Arialyn, please stop calling me. There's no way I'm going back there, and you can't have the will." I saw her huff and saw she was about to start screaming again when I stopped her. "and how many times do I have to tell you that neither you, or anyone else over there is in the will!" Arialyn was my brother's over-bearing ex-girlfriend. He broke up with her because she was trying to tell him how to live his life, but she won't accept it still, even after he...

"And I'm telling you that the will is family property." She responded.

"You're not a part of the family. You never were!" I was trying to keep my voice down for all the other trainers in here.

She glared at me, and looked at Charmeleon. "Hey there Charmeleon. You remember me, right? I used to dress you up a lot when you were a little Charmander!" She cooed at it, but it turned it's head away from her. He never liked her, and would always burn up the dresses she put on him when he was a Charmander. She huffed again and looked back at me. "Now you listen to me, Jake. You're going to have to come to Cerulean City at some point to earn the badge here at the gym. And once you do, I'll be here waiting for you, and that will! your family deserves to know what Garrett put in his will before he-"

"Don't say that!" I quickly hung up on her before she could say anything. I looked down and closed my eyes. Tears were already starting to come out. I didn't want to talk about it at all. Garrett...he died just last week. I was the one that was always there by his side, even when he died. He had leukemia. But before all that, he was the Champion of Kanto two years back. When he found out he had cancer, he gave up his dreams of becoming the Champion in all the regions. He let all his Pokemon go free to live on their lives, because he knew they wanted to, but they didn't want to leave him and they never did. Even after he released most of them, they stayed by his side until he died. He only kept his Charmeleon, which he gave to me, because he wanted me to go out into the world and finish his dream for him. It was a huge responsibility for me, and even though I never wanted to do that, I would do it for him.

I stood up from my seat and wiped away the tears and walked of the Pokemon Center with Charmeleon and out into Pewter City and towards the gym. As I walked through the city, it was abuzz early this morning with people shopping and going about their business. Some people recognized me and said they were all sorry for my loss. I just wanted to battle Brock, the Gym leader. I could soon see the huge Gym as I walked closer to it. As I walked to the front door, there was a sign.

"Gym closed: Gym Leader is sick"

"Great." I moaned. "Well, it gives us some time to train at least." I said to Charmeleon. "Brock is a rock-type Gym Leader, which means we don't stand a chance right now. We're gonna need either a Water and Grass type." Charmeleon nodded at this. "We can go into the forest and look around.

So, we walked to the edge of the city and back towards the forest near the Viridian forest. We came across a lot of bug types that were easy to deal with and were taken down with one hit. There weren't many trainers around. We had to deal with a lot of trainers on our way here from Pewter City. And I hated going through Mt. Moon, that was bad for both of us. There was just too many rock and ground types that were hard to beat, and Charmeleon barely got through. I remember one time we made this Graveler angry as it chased both of us and then we found the exit and some other Person took on the Graveler and caught it, saving us.

We walked a little further, until we came across a stream. "Maybe we can find some water-types here?" I said, looking around. I didn't have a fishing rod to go fishing for some, either which was gonna suck for us both. So, we both waited. I skipped rocks across the surface in boredom of waiting. Maybe I should jump in and try to scare some out? No, that would be humiliating if anyone saw me.

I sighed and leaned against a tree to think about this. This wasn't going good. I have no idea what to do.

That was when I heard a scream. I jumped in surprise in hearing it. I looked all around, and it was getting closer, but nowhere to be seen.

"Char!" Charmeleon pointed up. I looked up and that's when I saw her. the girl was just falling from the sky out of nowhere, holding something that looked like a Pokemon. I jumped in surprise. I had to save her. She was falling fast, and I had little time. I took off in a run to save her, but I don't run fast. Charmeleon ran beside me. I jumped over the tiny stream and stumbled a bit but got back up and started to run. I was a little late as I saw her fall into a tree. Branches were braking as she was falling through it. I ran under the tree, standing there with my arms outstretched. I heard her getting closer, but then she just sorta fell on me, knocking the wind out of me as she landed on my back with a thud...

~0~

**Marrissa's POV**

I stood on the cliff overlooking Pewter City. I took in a deep breath and exhaled. Pewter City was going to be my first Gym in this region. This was symbolic to me in many ways. This was the start of a brand new chance for me to participate in the Pokemon League. This was the start of a brand new me. I looked down at Shieldon with a bright big smile. I bent down and picked it up and gave her a big hug.

Shieldon was my very first Pokemon in Sinnoh. I got her when she was just a baby. In Sinnoh, I was born in Hearthome City. My mother liked to travel, and she brought back Shieldon when she was still an egg. I took care of her the whole time, and when she was born, we became the best of friends. And that was when I wanted to travel the world and become friends with all Pokemon. I captured and befriended a lot of Pokemon throughout Sinnoh. The Pokemon I have with me are my Shieldon, Gastrodon, the pink one, Drifblim, Honchkrow, Hippopotas, and Abomasnow.

I eventually went on to the Sinnoh League, but I never really got to participate and was disqualified before I could even start. It was all because of Cecile. Cecile is my rival and enemy. We met in a small town that was holding a small tournament where I battled her and won. She was furious with me, because I found that she was treating her Pokemon horribly and called her out on that. She's been after me since then. She started some crap at the Sinnoh League that wasn't true, and I was disqualified. I really don't want to talk about it right now, but maybe someday I will tell the truth to you. Just not now.

"Well, Shieldon, here we are. Pewter City. The start of a brand new life in a brand new region. Just smell this air. It's so refreshing!" I said, taking another breath, smelling the sweet scents from the flowers around me and down below.

"Shield!" She replied with a happy chirp.

"Maybe this time, I can actually participate in the Pokemon League." I said, and she nodded with me. She was looking forward to it, too, but we never got to back in Sinnoh. This time for sure though, we will.

Shieldon looked up at me, and then behind me. "Shieldon shield!" She said suddenly, freaking out a little bit.

"What's wrong?" I asked, and looked behind me. But before I could even turn around, I felt someone push me suddenly. I lost my footing as I found myself falling off the cliff. I turned around though, and before I actually started to fall, I saw Cecile there, with a smirk on her face. She turned around then and walked away. I gasped, and held on tightly to Shieldon as we both fell from the cliff. I screamed the whole way down, and so did Shieldon. It was a long fall, and I knew it was going to hurt when I landed on the ground.

I was praying to Arceus and any other God out there that I will make it through with hardly any wounds and what not. At least not a broken bone. "Hold on Shieldon!" I said. I looked back down, the ground was now closer, but now I could see that we weren't gonna fall straight to the ground. We were gonna fall into a tree. That helped a little, I guessed.

As we fell into the tree, I could feel branches scratching my arms and tearing my clothes. I held Shieldon tighter. Branches were braking with us. I could fell my arms bleeding from the scratches. I prayed one more time when we fell through the tree and landed on something soft. I heard something gasp. I was thankful I wasn't seriously hurt. I opened my eyes and I saw a Charmeleon right in front of me. I blinked a little.

"Could you...get off...of me...please?" I heard someone said. He coughed between words. I looked down and saw that I landed on a person. I quickly jumped up, and Shieldon jumped to my feet.

"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry!" I said quickly.

I watched as he got up, and was still coughing for a few more minutes and gasping for breath, When he stopped, he looked up at me. "Are you okay? I saw you falling and I tried to save you." He said.

"I'm okay, just some scratches here and there. Are you okay? I knocked the breath right out of you when I landed on you." I replied quickly, still feeling bad about it. "And thank you for saving me, really, thank you."

"I'm fine, and you're welcome." He nodded. "Why were you falling?"

I stopped for a second. I didn't want to tell him my enemy pushed me off, so I lied. "I was being careless, walking on the edge of the cliff. Some of the rocks crumbled under my weight and I fell." I replied, looking at Shieldon. I picked her up. "I'm glad that we're all okay." I hugged her.

He raised an eyebrow and asked. "What Pokemon is that?"

"It's Shieldon, mu first Pokemon ever." I replied with a smile.

"Shield!" She said in response.

"I never seen a Pokemon like that before. You have to be from a different region." He was right, I was.

"I'm from the Sinnoh region." I replied.

"Wow, you're far from home then." He said. "Why are you here in Kanto?"

"I want to compete in the Pokemon League." I replied with a nod.

"Did you compete in the Sinnoh League?" He asked.

"No, I never got to..." I replied, looking down. I guess I was glad he didn't recognized me. The whole thing last year was all over the news. Because if he recognized me, He wouldn't have asked. I shook my head and lied again. "I got sick so I never got to compete last year."

"Oh, that's too bad." He said. "I'm doing the same thing, too."

"You're gonna compete this year?" I asked and he nodded. "Well, then that means we might fight each other then."

"Yeah, I know. We might." He said with a nod.

"Are you gonna fight Brock, too?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but right now the Gym's closed because he's sick. I was gonna come out here and train and maybe find either a Grass Type or a Water Type Pokemon." He replied.

"Oh, that's a good choice." I replied and looked at Charmeleon. "Does your Charmeleon know any fighting type moves?" I asked.

"Uh..." He replied, giving me a blank look. "I really don't know..." He looked at Charmeleon, who also shrugged.

"Well, if it doesn't have any, it can probably learn them. Rock Pokemon are weak against fighting, too." I replied.

"Isn't Shieldon a ground type? Won't you have trouble too?" He asked and I chuckled. "What?"

"I have my whole team from Sinnoh with me. I'll be fine." I said.

"Oh." He just said.

"Oh! I totally forgot. I don't have your name and you don't have mine." I said suddenly. "My name's Marrissa Donovan.

"Jake Sullivan, nice to meet you." Jake Sullivan is his name, huh? I knew a Sullivan. His brother couldn't be Garret Sullivan, could it? I looked up to him as an inspiration to start this journey of mine. I had to ask, but I couldn't. If he was his brother, then it might bring back bad memories. After all, Garrett died last week to Cancer. It's best I didn't bring it up then.

"Well, Jake, would you like to travel with me?" I decided to ask.

"You want to travel with me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, it's better than doing it alone, that's for sure." I replied. "And I want to help you out."

He looked at Charmeleon, who just nodded at him. "Well, I guess we could travel together."

"Awesome!" I said. Maybe this way, Cecile won't try to do anything with another person around me. Or she might and try to get both of us. That would be even more dangerous, but it would have to do for now. And I guess I'm gonna have to tell Jake the truth about me, sooner or later. I don't want to now, because I just met him. Though, I definitely will.

"Great, I think." He said.

"Yeah, now I can help you train, too." I said with a smile. "I'm sorry, but you seem like you don't know what you're doing."

"I don't, really." He said with a slight chuckle.

"Alright. We can get started today if you want. Or we can wait until tomorrow." By this point, I have already forgotten about my scratched up arms, until Jake pointed it out.

"After you get those scratches cleaned up." He pointed. I looked down, and saw them and laughed.

"Thanks! I forgot about them completely." I replied and stood up. "We should head into the city then and get them all fixed up and then we can start helping you train!" I smiled at him. "Let's go!"

"Uh, right." He said and I started to walk on ahead of him, and turned around.

"You coming?" I asked.

"Yeah, I am." He replied, and started to walk with Charmeleon and he caught up to me.

And this was the start of something new. I had made a new friend today, on this brand new journey. I was excited by the thought of it all. Maybe, just maybe, this year will be more enjoyable than last year. I'm not going to let Cecile ruin this one for me. This is my year, and I'm gonna make it work. I'm not going to let her bother me anymore. I'm not gonna let her get me down. This is my year!


End file.
